Espoir de Printemps
by MusicArtSoul
Summary: "How he loathed that his plans were running away from him, especially since he couldn't control weather in reality."


**Disclaimer: **I own nothing. Inception and characters © Christopher Nolan. Others © MusicArtSoul

**A/N: **This story is almost finished being edited – but I become impatient. My beta, I'm so sorry! So, if you enjoy this story, look at my profile for updates.

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It was an unusual request, one which involved holding a blindfold out to her in the heart of Paris. He smirked just thinking about it. The idea was unoriginal by a long shot, but the Point Man wasn't known for his creativity – that honor went to Ariadne. She had to agree to keep the blindfold on for the complete duration of the trip. He noted that there seemed to be a familiar gleam in her orbs. _The_ look she always gave him when he suggested a crazy idea. It was becoming an image that popped up more than he would've liked. All his ideas weren't _that _crazy – they worked ninety-nine point nine percent of the time. Except that one time a few months ago…

_Moving on._

In exchange, she could drag him anywhere she wanted for the same length of time. After hearing that bargain, she grinned widely. That _other_ look he wasn't fond of made an appearance. He could internally visualize the gears in her mind starting to rotate by these cues. Although he knew she had gotten an idea immediately, he hardly cared. It was time spent with Ariadne. And, in a twisted way, he loved her unending diversity of emotions. However, he knew whatever she was thinking about doing in return, he would be endlessly mocked about it at their next meeting with the team.

The drive from Paris to their countryside destination took almost two hours, while water dripped from the trees. Saito had lent them his personal 2010 Hyundai Equus for the trip. And with the rain becoming heavier, Arthur pulled over. He preferred to delay the trip for a few minutes than risk their safety. He stopped in a vacant lot with a view outside his window. A field with a wide array of greenery contrasted greatly with his dark-haired, fair skinned image of her. It would become a sight he would never tire of. After thirty-five minutes of steady pouring rain, the skies started closing back up and Arthur started the car to continue driving. His plans were pushed back this weekend and he would deal with it.

Maybe.

Her hand went slack in his twenty-three minutes into their travels before Arthur pulled from the road in down pouring rain. She had dozed off. He had made her meet up with him at 7:30 that morning. He regretted making that decision, especially with the fatigue slowly peeking out of her eyes. She was still trying to apply to architecture firms after graduating, causing her to stay up quite late. This excluded time spent doing research for their main source of income. Ariadne was stubborn, which was a complete understatement in his mind. She had wanted to lead a normal life outside of their Inception world.

When they arrived, he squeezed her right hand with his left. It was enough to wake her, bringing her attention back to the real world, and she squeezed his hand in return. It was a signal she had come back to the real world. He clutched his die in the his right pocket, wanting desperately for this to be a reality.

Helping to gather their belongings, he opened the passenger door and stood, holding his hand out. It was quickly claimed by the person he loved completely. He had never told her where they were going. The location would've given itself away if he made the slightest mention of this area. She needed a weekend where she would be able to relax her mind.

They had hardly spent any time together within the last year or so. Ariadne was an extremely hard and passionate worker, that much was evident to him throughout her training for the Fischer mission. She had been finishing up her undergrad work at the time. However, as she had moved on to obtain her master's degree while continuing to work as their small team's architect, he noticed this passion became heightened to the point she lost a lot of sleep finishing up her thesis research and writings. It had taken her only a year and a half, but often she had gone weeks without a full eight hours of sleep.

She had almost finished her degree when her body decided it was time to sleep, causing her to collapse. The doctor advised she take a rest from her schooling, telling her to take it easy and to not push herself. They both talked it over and agreed that she would take a break from the missions until she finally earned her master's. Thus, they saw each other less frequently than he would have preferred. The two were able to spend time together, but it wasn't the same. He supported her completely, but without her around, his mood eventually turned sour. The day that she came by the warehouse unannounced, showing off her master's degree to him, he had locked the door to his small office and they had left the warehouse. They were gone the entire weekend. The following Monday, Arthur was back to his old self – continuing to quip with Eames without being phased, for the most part.

Ariadne had graduated college less than two months ago. He thought this small vacation would take her mind off of the past few weeks events. While she would be able to explore, he would finally get some quiet time with her. The thought made him smile slightly. This vacation was one of many graduation presents he was giving to her for achieving a high honor. It was a late present, but Arthur had something in mind that would make up for it.

The place they were staying at was near a small, famous French castle, the _Rennes-le-Château_, located in Languedoc, France. He thought it was a nice touch. Ariadne was an architect, even if she didn't have an official job outside of dream sharing.

Not that he would ever mention it to Eames or the others. They'd say he was wrapped around the architect's every need and unrequested wants. Not that he minded any of them.

Of course, Ariadne and he were professional on the job together. He was protective of her, but both knew their places. She was completely independent and so was he. It was one of the distinguishing characteristics he loved about her.

As they got out of the car, he stood behind her and unraveled the blindfold. With his unique touch of pulling a small section of caramel curls behind her ear, he signaled for her eyes to open. A mix of a smirk and smile were evident on his face. Her eyes focused only on the landscape at first, a view of an endless expanse of rolling hills with the eleventh century castle poised atop its rough peak. The ruins of the castle, which was destroyed by eighteenth century combat, gave it a mysterious air, enhancing its beauty. Only an architect like Ariadne could comprehend this vision to a higher magnitude than Dom ever could. He was positioned exactly the way he envisioned it as she turned around. They were standing in one of the hollows of the valley, tucked beside a small three story home which was surrounded by many beautiful sights. As her face lit up instantly, he knew this was what she considered paradise in reality. He never grew tired of witnessing her reactions to her surroundings.

It didn't hurt that she nearly knocked him down, either. They were standing in the driveway and she was crushing him with her arms in a tight embrace. Hard to believe such a petite woman could do that to a man of his stature.

After checking in at the lobby, the couple arrived at their separate designated rooms. Arthur was old fashioned, in some respects. Previously, when he had visited Ariadne's family, her parents had seemed the type to make good on their threats. This caused him to remember a jotted down mental note from years prior to his dreamscape job._ Never_ have the parents question what you are doing with their little girl while you are dating her. Everything gets messy rather quickly. He would know because he experienced teenage male hormones up until that point_. _Perhaps that had been a great influence on him thinking more logically?

Shaking the thought mentally, he checked his image in the mirror. He had straightened out his paisley tie sixteen times. Maybe he was a little nervous? He had made sure to reserve a small restaurant in the town they were staying in.

Closing the door and walking down the staircase, he rapped twice on her door, his customary signal to let Ariadne know they would depart shortly. As Ariadne stepped out of the room, her head was bowed. He presumed she was looking through her small plum-colored clutch for any necessary things she needed for the night. The small woman was adorned in a silk crème blouse, black slacks, and instead of a trademark scarf, a thin silver necklace with a cushion-cut diamond. She looked lovelier every time his gaze landed upon her.

Taking her hand to tuck her under his arm gently, he led her down one more flight of stairs. They were about to step out of the small establishment when he spotted something amiss. It was pouring rain.

_Again_ his plans seemed to take a small detour. Only now did he remember noticing how the damp cobblestone driveway had showed signs of an earlier rainfall as he carried their belongings in from the car.

Ariadne started to giggle. It wasn't the first time she had been amused by his suffering. He liked to think this only happened on extremely rare occasions. The Point Man could've sworn the skies were going to be the bluest of blues these next few days. How he loathed that his plans were running away from him, especially since he couldn't control weather in reality.

They would have to dine in tonight. Luckily when Arthur had been looking for a place, he had made certain they would be accommodated with the highest quality food served in a small dining room or on a beautiful garden patio while they socialized with the owners. He always mapped out two or three backup plans if any changes happened with the original.

He prayed_ hard_ that night after his dinner with Ariadne for his plans to be somewhat revived tomorrow.

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Arthur checked the weather forecast on his Blackberry for the fifth time that morning. He wanted to be a thousand percent accurate in predicting how the day would go. Sure, things had been ruined yesterday. But the Point Man thought that it was just a sign that the events would not have turned out as well as he had planned. He had revised his mental schedule four times with details of where they would be touring for the day to make sure that it would all go as planned.

It was only six-fourteen in the morning.

Shutting off the web-browser of the personal electronic device, he dressed in casual clothing – tailored dark jeans, deep green button-down shirt, and faux-worn leather jacket. After his walk down a flight of stairs and his customary knock, his fingers slipped into his pockets while he leaned against the wall, waiting for Ariadne. It wasn't long before she stepped out, smiling as she shut and locked the door. Slung across her shoulders was a customized messenger bag, which held a camera she toted around as they traveled to take pictures of the architecture. It was one of the many gifts he thought she had needed for her studies and life-passion.

Arthur twined their hands together as they traveled into the country and made light conversation. It varied between light bantering and secondary meanings that became a secret code between lovers. She was constantly observing structures and layouts which would aid their team with future jobs that came about. They walked down a cobblestoned road for sixteen minutes at a steady pace until Ariadne started to slow down. He watched her and knew her creativity was starting to bloom into another magnificent idea. The cogs in her mind started to turn as her eyes glanced from one structure to the next. Her mind became like a battle ground, full of fighting enemies and comrades, focusing on the structures and recreating them into vast dreamscapes at a startlingly fast rate. The only hint of this process happening were in her eyes. It had taken him at least three months to discern Ariadne was in the process of creating.

It always fascinated him to study her. If an idea sprouted from her flowing mind, she would pull out a small sketch-pad to flesh it out, putting graphite to textured paper. It never ceased to bring a smile to his lips to watch her create afresh and become a different person under these circumstances. Even when she had a camera at her fingertips, she always had to sketch it out, to use the barest of resources to recreate what came to her mind. Ariadne was definitely a rare beauty to behold.

He continued to observe her, never a dull moment spent, as they continued down the street until reaching an open field. It was a remarkable piece of landscape, the kind that caused anyone who looked upon its grandeur to wonder how it was formed. _Pech de Bugarach_ was a marvel, the highest mountain in Southern France. Although it wasn't necessarily architecture, he knew she had an eye for beauty, natural or manmade, it didn't matter. Ariadne just stared at the mountain in wonder until a small smile appeared on her face. _Lovely as always,_ he thought.

She tugged on his right hand, almost dislocating his shoulder without any warning, wanting to get a closer look. As they trekked towards the mountain, Arthur confirmed that Ariadne was still facing forward. Trying to minimize his movement by pulling out a thin box from his left pocket, Arthur took out the object that was the center of this entire weekend. He had been planning and holding onto the small ring since Ariadne had graduated with her master's in architecture. Being as subtle as he could, he slipped the ring onto her finger, causing her to slow down and furrow her brow. She looked down at her hand, before looking up at him, a blank wide-eyed look on her face that he could only describe as shock.

Arthur had meant to talk to her immediately. He had been prepared to open up and talk to her about this, but his plans were ruined by a downpour of rain.

Not a slight sprinkle of rain. This was the type of storm that would soak anyone to the bone if they were standing in one spot for more than five seconds.

Arthur pulled his jacket off quickly and gave Ariadne the clothing to use as a shield against the downpour. They quickly found a safe haven in the form of a small home near the field. The couple ran towards the back. The walls of the house were made of concrete the color of sand. On the right was a bell tower. The burnt orange roof intersected in an imbrex and tegula pattern.

The roof extended into an overhang, three feet in the front and back. He was thankful for the shelter, but Arthur was infuriated at all of the events that lead up to this moment. He was never this unprepared on any mission, _excluding_ the Fischer mission. He did his research. _Thoroughly._ The Point Man was so rattled that his hair came out of its gelled hold as he threaded his fingers through it. He cursed, letting loose a string of expletives. Rattled didn't even come close to describing what he was feeling. Pulling out his Blackberry – which was thankfully free of moisture – he looked closely at his notes, trying to find what he could've missed that had screwed up his mission completely.

It was the date.

He had wanted everything to take place in May. What showed up on his personal Blackberry was the forecast for _March_.

Before he could do anything more, he felt a pair of warm, wet arms circle around his neck. The next second, Ariadne kissed him. This stopped all thoughts in his head, as it usually did. She pulled back before he could comprehend everything.

Looking down at her hand, Ariadne admired the ring. The band was white-gold, with two diamonds encased around a cushion-cut gem. Wanting to look at the ring from all angles, Ariadne slipped the engagement ring off her finger, analyzing its beauty and read the inside. Arthur's small cursive handwriting read _Hope of Spring_. His special touch enveloped the delicate piece of jewelry.

Slipping the ring back on her finger, she wrapped her arms around his neck, and hugged him tightly with an increasing smile. The smile then turned into Ariadne starting to giggle quietly with her cheek placed against his shoulder. It wasn't a malicious sound, by any means. But it confused him.

Pulling back enough to look into the architect's eyes, he found her orbs were full of mirth. Finally it clicked. She wasn't laughing because she thought it was a joke. She was laughing because the calm and detailed Point Man usually had everything planned out to perfection without being derailed. However, when it came to nature, everything had backfired. She found it hilarious. To say that he felt chagrined was an understatement.

Before he could pull away, Ariadne rolled her eyes at his ignorance, and just pulled his head back down, kissing him soundly as she confirmed his proposal of marriage. She didn't need to speak any words. Her actions were enough for Arthur.

Arthur would never admit to anyone – not even Ariadne, his fiancée – that he wouldn't mind being caught off guard by a derailing in one of his future agendas. But only when it happened infrequently. Say, once every twelve years. _Maybe_.

After a few moments, the engaged couple pulled away slightly from each other. Ariadne leaned her right temple against Arthur's shoulder with her left hand resting on his chest. Arthur looked down at her, a smile tugging at his lips.

He had known the perfect gem to use to propose to her since the beginning. It told the story of their relationship, a relationship that started when they started to take notice of each other in the warehouse during Ariadne's first shared dream. The first layer of Fischer's dream had held large amounts of rain, and when she became sick during the last stretch of her master's degree, he was able to calm her mind with logical thinking. Arthur in return was calmed after the returning to the first level of Fischer's dream. She told him that Cobb went looking for Saito, and knew – perhaps even prophesied – when they returned to reality the extractor and tourist would make it back safely. She had been right, but her smile helped ease Cobb's mind and the point man's.

The jewel also told of how he would be faithful to her through Ariadne knowing Arthur could have any woman he wanted, it was shown he would continue to stay faithful to her and never sway when a woman would pass by. Arthur understood how much hard work went into a degree, revealing he earned at least two Bachelor's a few weeks after getting together.

Their story would continue to be told through key events that would change their lives, enhancing their memories with just a small reminder from the stone. Arthur was patient with many things that came across his path. Arthur wanted to show the Architect that he was reasonable and calm while making rational decisions if need arose. The opportunity came when her family invited him to stay in one of their guest bedrooms. What caught him off guard about the entire situation is having Ariadne's parents start to interrogate him within a few moments of getting acquainted. Her parents asked possibly one hundred questions which lasted at least seventy-two minutes. He seemed relieved when that session ended, but her younger brother by four years had more to add. Nicholas asked harder, more advanced questions. However, with the determination and wisdom he gained, Arthur passed with flying colors.

It impressed her family that a man this level-headed chose their little girl. He was a lucky man.

What stood out in Arthur's mind is how much he would be able to love Ariadne so easily. This caused him to internally swell up with emotions after diligent research and looking upon the ring, especially with a gem with a specified cut . He made a vow during his pre-teen years that if he was serious enough about a relationship, he would ask the future woman's parent's about her hand in marriage. Ariadne didn't know that was the main reason why he willingly chose to come and meet her family after being together for less than six months. Arthur hoped that with his actions he as able to show her parents how much their only daughter made an impact on him. Especially since many men weren't known to ask for a woman's hand in marriage with her parent's consent and blessing. He was still old-fashioned, to a certain extent. Arthur knew if he didn't clear this proposal by the parents first, he was never truly in love with a woman by taking this important step.

Arthur looked over all of his detailed notes before making the purchase and gem selection. He knew all of these main qualities had to make up the essentials of their relationship – of what the ring would truly mean. Ariadne was no ordinary girl. Arthur knew the more research and thought he placed into this would mean the world to her and had to be as special to her fifty years later to that moment. All of these vital pieces of information helped to confirm what type of gem would be perfect to describe their relationship. It had to be a perfect present to his girlfriend who was now his fiancé and future wife.

He grinned while looking down at Ariadne's left hand – his now fiancé. It held such large promises and hidden meanings.

The emerald was a symbol which meant more than people realized.

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**A/N: **Hope you enjoyed this. If not, please review anyways. Constructive Criticism is _always_ welcome. It would make me incredibly happy.


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